Tyler Pigott

10.25.2017 |
4 min read

Determining your digital marketing budget is no small task, regardless of the size of your budget. We created this infographic to give you quick insight into 6 proven and effective marketing strategies, and how much you can expect to spend on them.

And the 3 we encourage everyone to get started with today?

1. Email Marketing

Budget: $20+/month

Like the sound of making $44 for every $1 spent? Many marketers agree that on average, email marketing can provide your business with a 4400% ROI. Talk about a great way to get the most bang for your digital marketing budget buck.

So why aren’t we all chomping at the bit to set this money maker up?

Email marketing is a fantastic tool to get started with on a small budget, but it does require some work.

For starters, you’ll need to entice people with some kind of lead magnet. This can be anything from a promo code for your website, a free ebook, weekly newsletter/blog updates, or even a quiz.

The point is you need to provide something of value to your users in exchange for their email address.

You’ll need to invest at least $20/month in a email marketing provider. (Mailchimp, Sendgrid, Drip, and Hubspot are a few of our favorites) Whatever email provider you choose should have the functionality to allow you to set up campaigns and integrate with your lead magnet.

Here’s where email marketing can get expensive. The whole point here is to create 6-8 “touches” with your fresh leads to remind them who you are, what you’re all about, and invite them back to either get in contact with you or to purchase. In order to entice people to do this, you’ll need some knowledge of how to create an effective sequence, as well as creative and compelling copywriting skills.

While you can find many guides to things like your best email marketing sequence yet online, the trick heavily lies within your ability to not only utilize persuasive copy, but also to come up with catchy subject lines! At the end of 2016, the average open rate across all industries was 24%. While you may be turned off to this at first, think about people who spend the whole day dialing their new leads. If 1 out of every 4 people picked up the phone, it would be a miracle!

So who is email marketing for? Anyone and everyone! Even if you don’t have the money to invest in a copywriter to create a sequence for you, put something together and start testing it out to your leads. As long as you are tracking your numbers (open rates, click through rates, etc) you will have no problem making the proper adjustments as needed.

2. Organic Social Media Marketing

Not only can organic social media marketing play a very important role in lead generation, brand development, and SEO development, but the best part is it’s essentially free.

When I say essentially, I mean this isn’t a social media strategy that will dip into your budget, but it will absolutely make a dip into your daily routine. In order to create a strong social media campaign, you’ll need to carve out time to keep your account (FB, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, etc) up to date, and also respond to any users engaging with you there.

Scoring a quick viral hit is possible, but not likely. You should set out with the intent that it will take you at least 3-4 months to reach about 100 organic vistitors a day. While it may feel like you are shouting to an empty room at times, organic social media marketing requires persistence, but can yield huge rewards for your business. 84% of social media users worldwide have “liked” or followed a brand or product on social. Put yourself in a position to be “liked”, and you’ve created a free advertising channel for when you release new products, run promotions, and more.

3. Influencer Marketing

Budget: Free

Influencer marketing may be a new term for your to consider for your digital marketing budget, but any free and proven method is worth considering, right?

Marketing which aims to circumvent the challenge of building an audience online by encouraging established industry authority figures to share your product or service with their existing followers.

So, how do you even get started?

Just as with most free methods, the trade for your cash budget is a payment of time. With influencer marketing, you can’t expect results overnight. You’ll need to cultivate relationships with authority figures long before you ever ask them to share your content. (shouting “Retweet Me!” does not count for effectively asking them to share your content)

You’ll also need to do your homework in order to make this strategy work. In order to benefit from connecting with influencers, you must first understand their unique audience. If you can find an influencer who you knows audience would genuinely benefit from your product or service, you’ll be much more likely to gain points with that influencer. You can use analytical tools like Facebook’s audience insights to help you!

After you’ve found the right influencer with the right audience, begin to engage. Comment on blogs, connect with their followers, and keep up to speed with their marketing strategy. You can also earn brownie points by linking pieces of their content within content pieces you publish.

Digital Marketing Budgets Are For Everyone

Marketing is one of those things your business just can’t live without. And there is certainly a huge variety of ways you can go about marketing, more than we even covered in this article, so determining your unique marketing strategy will take time and consideration.

The 3 strategies we covered in this article are strategies that anyone and everyone should incorporate into their marketing strategy. They’re effective, and best of all, they’re cost effective.

So which one will you try out first? And do you need help learning where to get started? Let us know! We can’t wait to send better equipped entrepreneurs out into the world with solid marketing strategies!